


Dancer

by iluvaqt



Series: Avengers ABCs [4]
Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Dancing, Dreams, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-19
Updated: 2015-08-19
Packaged: 2018-04-15 12:28:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4606761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iluvaqt/pseuds/iluvaqt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peggy and Steve have their dance.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dancer

For Purple_Moon123.  
Angst warning.

::: ::: :::

The building was crowded and the line outside went halfway around the block. It was the most popular destination for the elite in the city. Anyone who was anybody visited the Stork Club if they were in town. Also anyone who wanted to rub shoulders with the rich, famous and infamous, knew it was the place to be. Although, good luck getting past the muscle at the door if you weren’t on the list of permissible green skins. Fortunately for Peggy, she was here to meet with an FBI agent. Having the ear of Edgar Hoover, ensured her name made that list by proxy.

With his past as a known bootlegger, the owner, Billingsley, was bending over backward to appear legitimate and clean. Hence making nice with the FBI.

Mr. Hoover wanted her to look over some Intel his men had put together, and he heard from sources that she was the woman to speak to regarding the interests and projects of their foreign counterparts. She was quickly lead through club and past the bar area to the Cub Room where her contact was waiting. As she walked through the room, her eyes strayed to the live band and the polished dance floor. Her heart skipped a beat in her chest. At one time she would have been on that floor, had fate been kinder to them both, with Steve. They were to meet for a date. Their first date, to celebrate their success in stopping the Red Skull’s war campaign. She had missed the VE Day celebrations chasing Dr. Ivchenko and Dottie that it was only now that she realized it had only been two months ago that she'd last heard his voice. She was almost at the table when she heard him and her chest constricted. She could hear her blood rushing to her head. In a distant corner of her mind, she knew this couldn’t be real, that this wasn’t what happened but her heart wouldn’t hear of it. Reason and rationality, played no part in her dreams.

"I'm here to meet my dance partner," he said, his voice soft with that hint of uncertainty that had remained even after the serum.

Steve never understood the effect he had on the people around him, especially women and was always uncertain of about whether his intrusion was welcome. His attention would never be unwelcome. Every day she drew breath she wished she’d grabbed their time together with both hands and thrown caution out the nearest window. But right now, here, she hesitated in turning. Would the illusion fade if she did? Her mind conjured all sorts of fantasies where Steve was concerned but this one was new. Perhaps it felt so real because she'd seen the interior of the club now.

"I kept her waiting you see," he continued conversationally. "I had to crash my plane, to save my city. I think she'll understand, but I need a little help. I've never gone dancing. Been waiting for the right dance partner. Do you think you could help me find her? She's a dame unlike any other, smart, strong, the most beautiful smile I'd ever seen and legs...I confess I've had very impure thoughts about those legs," he said softly, coming up so close behind her that she could feel his warmth at her back.

Peggy closed her eyes and turned around, leaning up to plant a kiss against his cheek. She threaded her arms through his and hugged him. She hasn't been this close to him in months. Her heart aching in her chest and tears burning behind her eyes, she tries to put up an unaffected facade of a confident woman but she's failing miserably in his presence. He feels solid, warm and real. Her palms meet his chest and remember his body, for how could she ever forget. Firm everywhere with hard defined muscles under his officer's uniform. She looks up into his blue eyes, and sees they are full or wonder at her and he has a half smile, a shy smile on his lips and she can't help herself.

She's wanted to do this since he laid that impromptu kiss on her before leaving to jump on that dreaded plane. All of her pain, her heartbreak, the friends she's lost, the trials she's had to endure without him, she poured into that kiss. The tide of emotion threatens to swamp her but his arms are holding her up, crushing her to his body and she can feel the heat and desire in his kiss and soon the pain is gone only replaced with a fierce longing, fanning her need hotter than she's ever felt in her life.

Everything else falls away, there's no more crowds, tables of eating and conversing patrons or even the sound of the band. There's only Steve. His hair suitably tousled from her combing fingers, his jacket rumpled from her passionate embrace of his person and his cheeks tinged an adorable pink. Winking at him playfully, and completely unrepentant over her greeting, she gently thumbed away the smudge of her rouge lipstick from his mouth. 

"I don't care how late you are, Captain. You're here and that's all that matters now," she said firmly, although the gruff edge betrayed how much he'd rattled her. "Care for a dance?"

"I don't know how," he said squeezing her hands, his face falling a little in uncertainty.

"Do you trust me?" she asked him, inclining her head thoughtfully.

He nodded without hesitation. "Yes."

Peggy kissed his cheek and led them to the dance floor. She put one of his hands on the small of her back and lifted their joined hands, before placing her free hand on his shoulder. "Just follow my lead."

And after a few hesitant steps, his body found an inner song and soon she was no longer leading. She could have danced for hours in his arms but all too soon the lights were fading. He drew her close and kissed her forehead. "You're the strongest woman I know, Peggy Carter. And you'll always be my girl. Just like I'll always be your dance partner."

She felt her body shake, everything hurt and it was hard to breathe. Even as she felt his arms supporting her, her body shook again. Her chest felt tight and she discovered her cheeks were streaked with tears. "Oh my darling, how I miss you."

Steve wiped away the tears from her cheeks. "You're special, Peggy. One in a billion. Don't let them take that away from you, ever. Your voice, the thought of you, gave me the courage to do what I had to. I hope you know your worth."

//"Aunty?"//

The voice broke through the darkness that was everywhere but where they stood. And before her eyes he began to fade. "Don't. Oh Steve, please don't go."

//"Aunty? It's okay, you're safe."//

Sluggish, and coughs wreaking her body, Peggy awoke to find a seemingly familiar face by her bedside. "It was just a dream?"

She looked about her room and after a moment she remembered where she was. In the high level care, retirement home. Steve was long dead and she was old. She had lived a good life. A full life. She had worked hard and achieved more than she had thought possible for a girl from the East End. She narrowed her eyes, her brow furrowing at the kind face of the young woman beside her.

"Sharon, Harrison’s daughter. You're my great aunt," she prompted.

The light came on for her. How could she forget little Sharon? The blonde angel of her memories. Devoting so much of herself to the S.S.R and later S.H.I.E.L.D her child bearing years had passed her by in the blink of an eye. Truthfully marriage and children had been the furthest thoughts from her mind following the war. She had thought her chance love had gone. Daniel took her by surprise. His friendship and professional confidence had been something she'd been grateful for and took great care not to jeopardize with any romantic notions so that when he'd asked her on a date three years after they started working together, she'd been floored. It'd take him another five to convince her that marriage would work. Another two before she would entertain the thought of children and by then, the option was no longer an easy yes, let's go for it.

Yes, she remembered baby Sharon. She poured all of her love and longing for children into this beautiful, intelligent-eyed young woman before her.

"Are you okay, Aunty?" Sharon asked pressing tissues into her hand, before pouring her a glass of water.

Peggy took the tissues, just noticing that her cheeks were actually wet. So that part hadnt only been in the dream.

"You were talking and crying in your sleep. Do you feel all right? I can find a nurse for you."

"I'm fine now, Sharon. Thank you," she assured her concerned niece quickly. “What did I say?” she asked, half curious and half apprehensive over what her niece might have overheard. While she had made no secret of her activities during the war and after to her family, her love for Steve and their fleeting romance was something she kept only for herself.

Sharon watched her aunt’s face and knew the signs of worry having noticed similar tells on her own. Steve Rogers was her aunt’s first and only great love. She was entitled to keep those memories private. “Nothing I could make out clearly.”

Peggy closed her eyes again and rested her head against the soft pillows. The comforting warmth of Sharon’s hand, covering her weakened cold one soon lulled her back to drowsiness. Her chest tightened marginally at the thought that she might see Steve again. It’s where he lived now. In her dreams. And it was the only place where he’d be able to take her dancing. She’d lost the ability to walk after a bad fall two years ago. But in her dreams, with Steve. She would always be able to dance.


End file.
